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“I see a wolf-dog who thinks he can buy his way into our pack with empty promises. I still hate you, though, so no way,” Luna spat, spilling her judgment with no care for him. She looked him up and down. “Besides, even if I were to give you a chance, it means nothing; Balto would still have your throat.”

Finbar looked at Luna, seeing the disdain in her eyes. He realized that he wasn't going to win her over, no matter what he said or did. She had made up her mind about him, and nothing was going to change that.

With a sigh, Finbar nodded. "I understand, Luna. I'm not going to try to convince you otherwise. But can I at least see Willow and the puppies? I want to make sure they're okay, and I want to be a part of their lives."

Luna's expression didn't change, but Finbar saw a flicker of sympathy move across her countenance. She nodded curtly.

"Follow me," she said, turning to lead Finbar out of the cave.

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As they walked, Finbar couldn't help but feel a sense of trepidation. He had no idea what to expect when he saw his mate and pups. Would they welcome him with open arms, or would they reject him like Luna had?

Was it possible that Willow had realized the weight of her mistake and no longer wished to see him?

Luna led him to a small clearing, where Willow was lying in a hollowed out tree on a bed of soft, spring leaves, surrounded by three adorable puppies. Finbar's heart swelled with love and pride as he saw his family for the first time.

Willow looked up. Her eyes softened, and she smiled happily. "Finbar," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

The white wolf-dog rushed to her side, kneeling down beside her.

"Willow, I'm so sorry," he said, closing his eyes and nuzzling her. "I was so wrong to go behind your father’s back. Can you forgive me?"

The light brown female’s smile grew stronger, water droplets streaking her black face, and she nodded. "I forgive you, but we need to talk about what happened, and what we're going to do from now on."

Finbar nodded, feeling a sense of relief wash over him. He knew that he still had a lot to prove if he was going to be allowed to stay in his family’s life but this was a start. He’d shown up, and was being a great support; the piercing stare of Luna ever present, he pushed the thought of her away and focused on Willow.

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As he looked at his little family, Finbar felt a sense of determination. He was going to do whatever it took to be a good father and partner. He was going to prove to her, and to himself, that he was worthy of their love and trust. He knew at that moment that he was going to make a good impression on Balto, despite everything working against him.

The storm outside raged on, but their little den became a sanctuary of pure love and peace.

“Have you named them all yet?” he asked, licking Willow’s ear.

She closed her eyes and leaned against his chest. “Mmm… no, I wanted to wait for you.”

“I appreciate that,” he smiled.

Under them, three small puppies whined and murmured, each one desperately suckling their mother’s milk. They were so helpless, slow, and their coordination nearly nonexistent. With small ears and eyes unable to open yet, Finbar’s children needed him.

He had to protect them, with his life, at any cost. In that moment, the realization of duty and the assumption of fatherhood washed over him like a river current, filling the white wolf-dog with warmth as well as a heaviness. These tiny living things were mouths to feed, and relied upon him and their mother to take care of them, to keep them safe from predators.

Finbar did not know how he would be allowed to stay, but he put that at the back of his mind for now. This moment was all that mattered, the birth of his pups.

“Would you like to go first?” Willow asked him.

“I could.”

Finbar turned his snout down at the little ones, studying them in the darkness of the hollow log shelter; there was a pup as white as snow bearing a pink nose, a silvery gray pup with a dark reddish nose, and then a gray-brown pup.

He sniffed them. The lighter colored ones were daughters, while the dark one was a son.

“I will name the male Ashen,” Finbar decided, smiling. “Ash for short. He looks like the ash that would be left after my old human put out his fires.”

Willow giggled. “That’s perfect. I love Ash.”

“Thank you,” he nudged her. “What will you name the others?”

“I will name the silver one, you can name the pure white,” she responded.

“That sounds fair,” he blinked happily.

Willow looked at her silver daughter, licking to groom her. “Moonlily.”

The name was like sweet butter to him. “What a pretty girl’s name. Good thinking.”

Willow squeaked joyfully at him, the cute pup in her heart coming out as usual. There she was, grown fully into an adult, even a new mother, and she was still as young as ever inside. Finbar nibbled her ear affectionately before turning his attention to their snow-furred girl.

Her pink nose stood out, it was not something that the wolf-dog had ever seen in another canine. He felt a sense of worry come over him, though small; what if she was… ‘different’ like him? He would always love her, it was nothing to do with that, but he worried the rest of the pack wouldn’t be so kind. It was Finbar’s genes that had given these children physical traits that were not perfectly ‘wolf’, they wouldn’t look or act exactly like their peers, but he dearly hoped that the snowy one wouldn’t have to deal with anything too harsh since she was the one that looked the most out of place.

Once again pushing away the negative, Finbar focused; she needed a strong name, so he spent a good moment thinking of places he had been. In his former life, he had visited a handful of towns and settlements, even some big cities like Manchester and Nashua, but none of them seemed to be fitting for his little girl.

Other things he had gone to were mountains and trails, in fact he’d seen countless of them in his day; they seemed to have the right types of names, and he had the perfect one in mind.

“Sugarloaf,” he said finally. “Her name will be Sugarloaf, after the mountain.”

“A fitting name for a sweet lady,” Willow smiled, closing her yellow eyes and leaning into his warm chest.

Finbar took a deep breath and immersed himself into his new, precious family’s world. “You’re my sweet lady, Willow,” he tenderly licked the back of her neck.